A retired Military Officer, who has varied experience with coup d’états,
has warned the government of Ghana and nation as a whole to handle the
alleged coup attempt case with care.
Captain Joel Sowu who was arrested in 1975 for an attempted coup against
then head of state, Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, using his experience as
an example, said, the weapons and ammunition retrieved by the police
should not be rubbished.
“When we were arrested, the only thing they found was the ‘kafugbeng’
(pump-action gun), the one used for hunting and some cartridges and yet
we were sent to court, tried and sentenced to death by firing squad and I
ended up in Nsawam prison for 3 years.”
Captain Sowu explained that even though they did not hold any meetings
during that time to plot the coup, they were under surveillance for 8
months before their arrest.
He said the military’s intelligence should not be disputed.
“Don’t rubbish this thing like that, let us thread with caution because I
can speak for the military intelligence, they know exactly what they
are about. Remember strategy and tactics is our bane.”
His advice to all is to “just chill, wait, see the evidence that will be brought then if you need to defend, defend”.
Before his arrest in 1975, Captain Joel Sowu single-handedly foiled a
coup d’état against the NLC. He recalled that he arrested the two
persons involved alone then went to announce it at GBC.
In 1972, however, he was part of the soldiers who removed Kofi Abrefa Busia from office through a coup.
